Design Question

Feeling very rusty. I think I've cut one project in 2.5 years. Now I want to do something I've never done.

I need to cut 24 rectangles from vinyl. 12" x 3". Using MTC and my Eagle. The vinyl is 18 1/8" wide.

I'm wondering if can arrange the shapes to piggy back off each other so one cutting lines cuts edges on multiple labels. Say, the first one in a row is an "o" shape and then the ones to the left are "c"s that piggy-back.

Is there any reason NOT to do it this way? If multiple labels share a cut, I can make the most efficient use of the vinyl.

Lynne
Moderation in All Things should be Practiced Sparingly In KNK Love with my Zing, Eagle and the Support!

Comments

You can arrange them that way! Go for it! I would turn on Snapping and then make a custom virtual mat. Remember that you enter the 18" as the Height, not the width and then make the Width a few inches longer than what you plan to use for the length of the cut. Then use the pen tool to draw straight lines to cut instead of rectangles.

As snapping often causes me issues as I forget about it then wonder why think are position where I wanted then ? So now I always have it turned off , Then I forget it actually exists.

So my method for created a cutting grid is a little different

I would start with a rectangle from the basic shapes and re-size it to the require sizeThe use the node edit tool delete the bottom and right side the use duplicate to create the grid But add one extra row more than I needdelete the verticals of the extra row and use the pencil to draw vertical on the right

Two more questions:I can't find anything in the manual or in your wonderful videos, @SandyMcC that explains how/why to use snapping. I see references to it in troubleshooting, and I see the function on the mat in the manual, but not the whys and hows. What am I missing? I am looking in the MTC Eagle manual. Would another one be better?

Secondly, (and this is embarrassing. Shows just how rusty I am) I don't want square corners on my rectangles. I want rounded corners with a very small radius. So I open a rectangle from basic shapes. Create a second shape...a 1/4" circle and put it in a corner. Cannot remember for the life of me (or reference in the manual or videos), how to combine them and just snip off the part beyond the rounded corner.

I have **really** missed cutting. I never grew bored. Between my son's health issues, elderly parent issues and the challenges of life in general, there's been precious little ME time, but I am ready to reclaim some! Thanks for any pointers to the instructions. I will happily read/learn on my own.

Love to all. I've missed you.

Lynne
Moderation in All Things should be Practiced Sparingly In KNK Love with my Zing, Eagle and the Support!

@hwgang - glad to hear that life is letting you have some ME time. We all need that, its what keeps us sane .

You are correct, there is really not a lot of discussion about the snapping option in MTC, just a lot of suggestions to change that Snap Position option to no snapping .

I believe that Andy was influenced by how Inkscape uses snapping when he added the option to MTC, although there is a lot more controls for snapping in Inkscape that there is in MTC. You can best experience snapping when node editing. For example, and I have rectangle shaped box design and I need to make a flap for one side to act as a closing for it. If I create another rectangle shape and then use the Node Mode toolbar and the Edit Path option, set the Snap Position to 1/4 inch, then hold CTRL and point click and drag on a corner node to pull away from the shape, it will jump to the closest 1/4 inch. This works in a positive way to help, but if I needed some other distance it would become a hindrance. It's a tool that you either love or hate, use or don't use. Try doing this with the snap on and then turn it off. A small setting you might not notice unless you are zoomed in at a high level.

If you just search (Ctrl+F) on the word "snapping" in the Eagle with MTC UM, there are a number of references to it and each one should indicate why it's recommended to either have it turned off or to set the Snap Position to something that will be useful.

The best way to get a rounded rectangle is to use KNK Studio Maxx to create the rectangle first because it has the ability to drag the corner to round it to what you desire. I REALLY miss that feature in other cutting programs. Once you have the rectangle "looking" like what you want, then you can copy/paste it from KNK Studio over to MTC. Super easy! Let me know if you want me to make a video for you. I assume you still have KNK Studio installed?

I did search the manual, @SandyMc, and couldn't find anything relative to the question I asked above.I don't have KNK studio installed now, but I can. I have the dongle and a code I've never used. Is there a link to the download? I want to catch up.

Lynne
Moderation in All Things should be Practiced Sparingly In KNK Love with my Zing, Eagle and the Support!

Is this the sort of thing your after where all the internal cuts are a single line

This is how I did it

start with a circle for the basic shapes make the diameter a easy number to do math with for this on i chose 0.4"

select the circle set the x,y position to 0,0

break the nodes at the 12, 3, 6 , 9 o'clock positions then do a break

now you have 4 separate arc's each is 0.2 x 0.2" (half the diameter of the circle)

as the x,y position of each shape is based of the to top left corner of a little math is required

for this example I'm using 3"W x 6"H for the size of each rounded rectangle

1, Select the Top right arc set the X position to 2.8 (width of rectangle less width of arc)

2, Select the Bottom Left arc set the Y position to 5.8 (height of rectangle less height of arc)

3, Select the Bottom right arc set the X position to 2.8 (width of rectangle less width of arc) and set the Y position to 5.8 (height of rectangle less height of arc)

use the pencil while holding the ctrl to add a left side line and a top line with all selected duplicate to the number of row and columns you requireuse the pencil while holding the ctrl to add the line along the right and bottom side

I achieve the same end by using the rounded rectangle #2 shape, sized to either width or height of my end objective, using the node edit tool, remove the sides I want to make longer, or wider, select the modified shape, Split to separate, and then move the two corner bits attached to one side to where they need to be by using arrow keys or setting the x or y axis, and then use pencil tool with CTRL to add the lines back! Done, very quickly, very easily. HTH